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One World with Zain Asher

Syria Withdraws Troops From South After Days Of Deadly Clashes; U.S. Senate Passes Trump's DOGE Cuts Package, Sends It To House; U.S. Set To Destroy 500 Tons Of Taxpayer-Funded Emergency Food; DOJ Fires Epstein Prosecutor Maurene Comey; Closer Look At Syria's Druze Community; Netanyahu Says His Nation "Will Continue To Act As Necessary" After Israeli Airstrikes On Syrian Capital; Human Rights Group: At Least 169 Killed In Southern Syria Clashes; Taiwan Holds Military Drills In Preparation For War; Family Makes Difficult Decision To Self-Deport To Mexico; Obamas Take On Divorce Rumors On New Podcast. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired July 17, 2025 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:01:02]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: So far, the ceasefire in Syria does appear to be holding. The big question is, will it last?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: The second hour of One World starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language)

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GOLODRYGA: Above chaos and destruction, a truce has been agreed upon, but Syria's new leader says he's not afraid of war.

ASHER: Also ahead, the definition of waste. Why 500 tons of life-saving aid will not make it to the people who need it the most?

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: It's my husband, you all.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She took me back.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

GOLODRYGA: What'd you say to my husband? On the record, the Obamas joined forces to talk love, marriage, and oh, those pesky rumors of an impending

divorce.

ASHER: Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You're watching the second hour of One World.

Israel's prime minister says his nation will continue to act as necessary after launching airstrikes in the heart of Damascus in support of a Syrian

minority group. But for right now, a tentative truce is holding.

ASHER: Yes, Syria's president is accusing Israel of trying to fracture the nation as he announced a new truce with the Druze community.

GOLODRYGA: Convoys of Syrian Armed Forces withdrew from flashpoint city of Soweto after days of sectarian violence there.

ASHER: Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus after those clashes a short time ago. Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Israel's policy to protect the

Druze. U.S. Secretary of State --

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translation): This is a ceasefire that was reached through strength, not by making requests, not by

begging, but through strength. We are reaching peace through strength, quiet through strength, security through strength on seven fronts. That

will also be our policy going forward.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

GOLODRYGA: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has described the crisis as a misunderstanding, said that all parties involved have agreed on

specific steps to bring the situation to an end.

CNN's Kylie Atwood joins us now from Washington. We're also hearing from the State Department, Kylie, that the U.S. policy towards Syria,

specifically that of lifting sanctions on this new, still fragile government, is not changing. What more are you learning?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. The U.S. was intimately involved, as far as we can tell, in actually getting this

ceasefire to go into effect. As you said, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that he and other colleagues at the State Department

were involved with all of the players here, assuming that's the Israelis, that's the Syrians, on multiple fronts, in trying to get them to agree to

those specific steps that the Secretary laid out in that tweet to then bring this de-escalation into effect.

It's interesting that the U.S., that the Trump administration was so involved in this. But as you say, the Trump administration earlier this

year said that they were going to be pulling off those sanctions on Syria to effectively give President al-Sharaa an opportunity to build up the

country. And so as these deadly clashes were unfolding, of course, U.S. officials were very concerned about instability in the entire region,

potentially becoming a ripple effect of what was going on in Syria.

But they were also worried about, of course, the credibility of the Trump administration in having gone forth with this very new policy decision just

months ago, rolling off those sanctions, and then seeing what was unfolding, folks concerned about that turning into a greater conflict. So

for now, of course, this ceasefire, although very delicate, is holding for the time being.

[12:05:00]

U.S. officials are watching this closely, particularly the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, who is also the special envoy to Syria, and has

been intimately involved in trying to make sure that this holds, and that al-Sharaa is able to not just figure out a ceasefire here, but also figure

out how to become the leader of the entire Syria.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, made up of so many different minority groups, the sectoral, their tensions are really something that are being closely watched. And we

will continue to follow this story, actually, in just about half an hour's time. We're going to have a guest that will go more in-depth on what the

signals and the implications at play.

Kylie Atwood, thank you so much.

ASHER: All right, a bill is on its way to the U.S. House that, if passed as expected, will further solidify President Trump's executive power.

Overnight, Republican senators approved Trump's DOGE bill, a measure that would claw back $9 billion in federal funding that has already been

congressionally approved.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, $8 billion of those cuts are for foreign aid, the remaining $1 billion to public broadcasting. No Democrats voted for the measure,

which they say cuts desperately needed food to children in war zones.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JON OSSOFF, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: This is Abdullah. He was one year old, starving in a war zone in Yemen until his life was saved by emergency

rations sent by the American people through UNICEF. This bill ends the entire direct American contribution to UNICEF.

Are we so calloused by politics that we would make this grievous and avoidable error, moral error? Do we believe it is the will of our

constituents that children like Abdullah should die?

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ASHER: The Trump administration, meantime, has already dismantled USAID, the primary agency for providing international aid. CNN's Manu Raju joins

us live now on Capitol Hill. I mean, obviously, in terms of this DOGE bill, it would essentially -- I mean, if passed, it would essentially codify a

small part of Donald Trump's ability to put those spending cuts essentially into practice. Walk us through that, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and look, remember what DOGE promised when they came in. They promised more than $1 trillion

in spending cuts. This is a real fraction of that larger effort. But one of the big things that they had tried to focus on when they came in was cuts

to foreign aid in particular.

We've already seen USAID essentially go away, that major agency, by over the last, in the initial parts of the Trump administration, and now we're

seeing the specifics are going to be codified into law by Congress, getting rid of billions of dollars in federal aid and foreign aid. But not just

that, but more than $1 billion that would go to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund both television public broadcasting and

radio public broadcasting stations all across the United States.

So that impact will be felt directly, particularly among smaller stations, smaller TV stations in which perhaps rural communities in the United States

are going to rely on that information. But some of this foreign aid will be felt around the world as well. So this bill passed after an intense debate

among Republicans and Democrats and among some Republican senators who were concerned that the cuts went too far.

In fact, two Republican senators ultimately voted against this measure last night, actually earlier this morning when it passed around 2:00 a.m.

Eastern time here in the United States Senate. Two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, some people who are more moderate among the

Senate Republican Conference, they voted no, but it ultimately passed by a 51 to 48 vote, enough votes to get it out of the United States Senate.

And we do expect the United States House to approve this as soon as tonight, and it'll send this to Donald Trump's desk, which will be a first

big effort to codify some of the cuts pushed forward by Elon Musk and DOGE, but are now set to take effect and go into law by the end of the week.

Guys?

ASHER: Manu Raju for us, thank you.

RAJU: Thank you (ph).

GOLODRYGA: Well, part of the fallout from dismantling the USAID means nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food is going to be destroyed. It was

meant for starving people around the world, including in Gaza, and it would have been enough to feed 1.5 million children for an entire week.

ASHER: But a former USAID official says the desperately needed food paid for by American taxpayers is set to expire this month. So now it can't go

to where it's needed. And, in fact, it will cost nearly $100,000 to destroy it. The former official goes on to say that this wouldn't have happened if

USAID still existed.

Here's a talk about this shocking waste of food in the face of so much hunger is Susan Reichle, retired senior foreign officer at USAID. She

worked there for 26 years and left before the second Trump administration. She joins us live now from Falls Church, Virginia.

[12:10:05]

I mean, Susan, this goes straight to my heart. I mean, it's really difficult to comprehend that in a world where so many people are going

hungry, you know, that we are destroying food. So just give us your reaction to this. I mean, this idea that this food that is being destroyed

could essentially feed 1.5 million people a week, and we're destroying it. Why?

SUSAN REICHLE, RETIRED SENIOR FOREIGN OFFICER, USAID: It's just unfathomable that they are intentionally destroying this food, and 1.5

million a week (ph), but also 27,000 starving children around the world right now. If they have these high-nutrient biscuits, they -- it's magical

when you see it happen. They just spring to life, and I've seen this.

I've seen this during my 30-plus years of development where a parent is holding the child who is just on the verge of starvation and death, and

they receive one of these biscuits, and it's just magical. And that we have done this, that this administration, who has used U.S. taxpayer dollars,

close to $1 million, has spent on these biscuits, which are now, we're going to, as you said, have to spend more money to destroy them. It's

unspeakable because it's intentional as well.

The one point I'd really like to make is that the career staff of USAID, which I was one of millions over the years who worked there, and they had

been working through the spring in order to alarm the senior officials at USAID and the State Department that this food was going to expire, that the

biscuits would expire, and they intentionally and incompetently didn't make a decision. And as a result, people will starve, people will die, and U.S.

taxpayer dollars will be wasted.

GOLODRYGA: Susan, going back to this rescissions bill, now that it's going to go before Congress, what message does cutting $8 billion in,

congressionally, we should note, approved foreign aid, what message does that send to both adversaries and allies?

REICHLE: Well, we're already seeing the impact and the rescission. What this means, I know it's a technical term, but it basically means that

Congress had approved funding to move forward for these critical programs supported by the United States. And a decision now has been made to pull

those funds back.

So it means a couple of things. One, that the U.S. Congress is abdicating their responsibility of actually sharing the details. We've done

rescissions before. In 1992, we did rescissions. Senator Tillis talked about this last night. In 1992, you knew exactly what was going to be

pulled back.

Our former administrator, Peter McPherson, under Ronald Reagan, actually pulled back funds, rescinded funds, because said, these funds could be used

better elsewhere. So it's been a -- but there's no details. They just abdicated their responsibilities. And the impact globally we're already

seeing, is that, as you mentioned, our adversaries, or others who are trying to buy influence for these communities, whether it's China, Russia,

or others, are already filling that space.

ASHER: I mean, just going back to just thinking about all the people around the world who are heavily dependent on food from the United States, on aid

from the United States, who will now go hungry. I mean, my parents lived through the Biafra War in Nigeria, where, as you know, a lot of people died

of starvation. My uncle actually died of starvation, my mom's younger brother.

And so I really sort of grew up hearing firsthand of these stories of just how difficult it was to get food. And during the Biafra War, it was the

Americans, in part, obviously other countries too --

REICHLE: Yes.

ASHER: -- but the Americans who came to the aid of people in the part of Nigeria where I was from, and assisted us with food and other supplies as

well. Had it not been for the Americans, so many more Nigerians in the Eastern part of the country would have died of starvation.

And so here we are several decades later. What do you say to people? Because this was traditionally the role of the United States in the world,

this sort of beacon of hope --

REICHLE: Right.

ASHER: -- in terms of helping people in need.

REICHLE: Correct.

ASHER: What do you say to people who are now depending on the United States to come to their assistance as they have traditionally done in the past,

who can now no longer rely on the Americans?

REICHLE: Well, your family story is the story of so many I have heard through decades. The tragedy, but also the hope of you being here today, of

really being able to be -- show the impact of what our values as Americans in distributing food aid, in saving lives has meant.

[12:15:13]

And what I say is that the Deputy Management of Resources, Regis (ph), testified yesterday in the U.S. Congress, and he said he would look into

this. So I think there should be a lot of looking into why are we allowing starving children to happen when U.S. taxpayer dollars have been spent.

He's in charge of management and resources. And it's only been 17 days since USAID was destroyed and basically merged into the State Department.

And the State Department had their own firing on Friday. I was there when thousands of employees poured out of the State Department. It is chaos

there. And they need to be held accountable because this is not who we are as a country.

As Peter McPherson, our administrator under Ronald Reagan, often quotes, "We are great because we are good and we need to live up to our values."

GOLODRYGA: We should note that GOP leaders agreed to this bill after they were strip -- were allowed to strip out some $400 million for some programs

like PEPFAR. And that was for AIDS Relief in Africa that was first established by President George W. Bush and some other food aid programs to

Jordan and Egypt. But $400 million out of what we said, $8 billion seems to be a drop in the bucket here.

All right, Susan, thank you so much.

ASHER: Thank you. I like a lot of people --

REICHLE: Thank you.

ASHER: -- find that story very, very upsetting.

GOLODRYGA: Because it's so personal.

ASHER: So personal.

GOLODRYGA: All right, still to come on One World.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MIMI ROCAH, FMR. DISTRICT ATTORNEYM WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK: Maurene lives to get justice for victims.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Was it her famous name or her famous cases? What was behind the firing of a prominent federal prosecutor during a very tense time for the

U.S. president?

ASHER: Plus, the difficult decision to self-deport. The story of a family choosing to return to Mexico from the U.S. amid the Trump administration's

immigration crackdown.

GOLODRYGA: And later, who are the Druze? Who are the Bedouins? And why are they fighting in the first place? Crash course on the situation in Syria,

just ahead.

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[12:20:11]

ASHER: The Trump administration has fired a DOJ prosecutor who's notable for several reasons.

GOLODRYGA: Maurene Comey is the lawyer who took the lead on Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case and also prosecuted Sean Diddy Combs. Now

the timing of her dismissal comes as President Trump's MAGA base is demanding answers that the president promised to provide during the

campaign about the Epstein investigation.

Comey is also the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired as FBI director during his first term. It is unclear exactly why

Maurene Comey was fired, but a former colleague praised her for fighting for crime victims, especially women.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ROCAH: Let's be clear. The Epstein investigation and prosecution was botched years ago in the District of Florida by a U.S. attorney named Alex

Acosta, who was a Republican appointee and who later worked for Trump, but had to resign in disgrace when it came out that he had botched the Epstein

investigation.

The reason it came out, the reason victims got justice was because of Maurene Comey in the Southern District of New York. She is a relentless,

excellent prosecutor. I can't say enough good things about her skill, her judgment, her rigor. And she saw a case where victims had been denied

justice, and that's kind of her whole thing.

Maurene lives to get justice for victims. And so she took a case that others would have considered too hard to resurrect, and she did that. And

she did get justice as much as one prosecutor, one office could. So I don't know exactly what is going on here and how they're setting her up to be the

fall guy, or if they are, but it is cowardly.

It is political. It is based on conspiracy theories. And frankly, the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York needs to stand up for his

people.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ASHER: CNN's Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid has more on what may be behind the decision.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So a source familiar with this matter says that it had become untenable, the Justice Department

says, for having this young woman continue to work there because her father continues to go after the administration. Now we have seen them fire many

people who are not in line, they believe, with the ideology of President Trump or have been involved in investigations into President Trump.

But the timing here is curious because James Comey has been criticizing Trump since he was fired by President Trump in the first Trump term. And

this firing of Ms. Comey comes as the administration is facing enormous pressure to release additional materials from the Epstein case. And we see

the president possibly trying to lay the groundwork to maybe make Ms. Comey or the Comey family a scapegoat here.

He has suggested that all the uproar over Comey -- excuse me, over Epstein has been created by Hillary Clinton, James Comey, former President Obama.

When the fact is that this controversy has really been driven by the president's supporters, who for years have been asking some legitimate

questions about the Epstein investigation and also promoting, in some cases, full-blown conspiracy theories.

And it was his own attorney general who promised to release additional information and then recanted. So it's unclear even if they wanted to, if

they could pass responsibility onto anyone else for this. But at this point, it appears that Ms. Comey is certainly the latest in a string of

people to be let go because she was not, her family was not displaying loyalty to the president. That is not how the Justice Department is

supposed to work.

But we continue to monitor, see if they try to put more responsibility on her or her larger family. She's been on some of these really high-profile

cases, including the Epstein investigation. She also worked on the prosecution of Sean Diddy Combs.

I mean, this is someone who, people who know her, say she's really, really good and she wouldn't be getting these palm assignments if she was not a

competent prosecutor. Instead, she seems to be put in this bucket, according to at least one source familiar, with other really competent

prosecutors who the Trump administration does not believe can support their mission.

And you can't underestimate the sort of fear and distrust of the so-called deep state or people who have just worked in governments or in any way

advocated against the president's interests. I mean, that is something that runs deep at the Justice Department. But the timing here, given how long

her dad has been criticizing President Trump, raises a lot of questions about whether this is a long game that they are playing to try to pin some

responsibility on her and or maybe her dad.

GOLODRYGA: All right, our thanks to Paula for that.

[12:25:00]

Well, the people of Taiwan are preparing for an event they hope never happens.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just got this presidential alert. It says, "Missile attack. Seek immediate shelter."

(END VIDEOCLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Ahead, a look at how Taipei plans to react should China ever invade.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: All right, welcome back to One World. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher.

We're going to turn now to our top story out of Syria. A ceasefire is holding between government forces and Druze militias.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Syria's new leaders are struggling to consolidate control in a country home to several ethnic and religious groups. CNN's Isobel

Yeung takes a closer look at the Druze community.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on the Syrian capital, Damascus. Something they say is in

support of an Arab minority group called the Druze.

YEUNG: Dozens of people have been killed and even more have been injured in the past few days in southern Syria. So who are the Druze? The Druze are a

minority group of roughly 1 million people who mostly live in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The group practices an offshoot of Islam. They allow

no converts and allow no intermarriage.

In Syria's southern province of Suwayda, they've often found themselves caught between Assad regime soldiers, extremist groups, and more recently

with armed Bedouin, who are a nomadic Sunni tribe. Since the fall of Assad, Syria's new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, pledged inclusion and vowed to

protect all of Syria's diverse communities.

[12:30:04]

But Sunni extremist forces loyal to him have violently confronted the Druze. These are just one of several minority groups who have faced severe

human rights abuses over the last few months in Syria.

This week, the new Syrian government army entered the Druze city of Suwayda on Tuesday to pursue what it called outlawed groups, urging Druze fighters

to lay down their arms. Druze leaders are split on how to respond to this violence. Some have called for international protection and others have

welcomed Syrian intervention.

Meanwhile, Israel has positioned themselves as protectors of the Druze minority. On Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that they were

committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherly alliance with the Druze citizens in Israel. This week Israel

launched airstrikes against the approaching government forces.

Previously, Netanyahu has called the new Syrian government an extremist Islamic regime and said that they pose a threat to the state of Israel.

Syria's foreign ministry has condemned Israel's intervention, but this recent escalation complicates their efforts to consolidate their authority

and adds even more instability to the Middle East.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

GOLODRYGA: All right, time now for the exchange. We want to get a closer look at these developments in Syria. Dareen Khalifa is the senior adviser

at the International Crisis Group, joins us now from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dareen, it's good to see you again. We had a great conversation earlier this week and as we expected, this story continues to unfold. We got a bit

of a primer there from Isobel. But for those who are now wondering why is Israel now involved in Syria, aside from, you know, having a shared border,

the fact that the Druze has a relationship both inside Israel, obviously the Druze community is a minority in Syria, and Lebanon.

Just talk about Israel's role here and its actions and what they're saying are defending or in defense of their Druze brethren. I heard an Israeli

Druze on our program this morning saying whatever you may think of the Israeli government and their decision to get involved, it was that

bombardment that ultimately led al-Sharaa, along with pressure from the United States, to back down and agree to negotiate a ceasefire there. Give

us your take of what is taking place.

DAREEN KHALIFA, SENIOR ADVISER, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Well, thank you so much for having me. It's a very good question. Why is Israel involved in

intracommunal fighting in a province in Syria? I think the answer to that question is twofold. One is more tactical.

So the Druze community, as we heard up top, is a community that also exists in Israel. They are in quite influential positions within the Israeli

government. So they've been putting pressure on Netanyahu and his administration to be more proactive and more forward-leaning in their

protection to the Druze community in Syria.

So we've seen also in the last couple of days some of these Druze in the Golan Heights, in the occupied parts of Syria, try to cross the border. And

Netanyahu addressed them himself, trying to get -- bring them back and to stop that from happening. So there is internal pressure on Israel. But

there's also another more strategic objective of what Israel is doing.

So -- and that goes back or dates back to December when the Assad regime fell. Israel was very quickly to move militarily into Syria to try to

secure its perceived concerns in the country. So they've moved in an occupied territory way beyond the Golan Heights and beyond the 1974

disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel.

They've established military outposts. They've repeatedly struck military infrastructure. I think they've pretty much obliterated most of Syria's

military infrastructure at this point.

They talked about how temporary this military operation is, but everything they've done since indicates that this is a longer-term policy to weaken

the new regime in Syria and to keep it as fragmented and decentralized as possible to avoid the emergence of a strong central state that could

potentially work against them.

Now, that does not at all coincide with the messaging we're hearing from Damascus by President Sharaa and his entourage, who have, up until last

night, kept a very de-escalatory tone towards Israel. We've also heard reports about direct and indirect meetings and talks between senior

leadership from Damascus and from Tel Aviv.

There's a lot of American push towards potential normalization agreements between the two countries. And against the message that you heard earlier

that the bombing stopped the attacks, I think the bombing are very consequential, not just domestically in Syria, but I think they have the

potential to completely derail what could have been a positive momentum between the two countries, at least for the time being.

[12:35:17]

ASHER: And Dareen, as part of the ceasefire agreement, al-Sharaa has come out and said that he is going to do his best to protect the rise -- the

rights, rather, of the Druze population. Just explain to us how he does that, and can he be trusted by the Druze to do that?

KHALIFA: Right. So, what we've seen as part of the agreement is the government pulled out its forces from Suwayda, that province that's

predominantly Druze. That will make it more complicated for the government to actually follow through on its promise to protect the community there.

Now, the Israeli dynamic is also at play here, because what happened in the last few days is that the Israeli intervention really put a target on the

entire community, painting them as one that is calling for external interventions and are aligning themselves with a hostile state. That keeps

them very -- in a very, you know, unsafe situation as a community, and they also exist beyond Suwayda.

There are Druze presence up north, northwestern Syria, in Idlib, there are Druze communities in the suburbs of Damascus. So they're spread out across

the country in ways that are going to make it really hard to just rely on protection from Israel. The government needs to play that role, and now

that they don't have presence in that area, it is going to be quite hard.

Now, to the question whether or not he should be trusted, I don't think any politician should be trusted to follow through on their promises. But I do

think, however, that there are indications that he and his government have been quite keen on avoiding intercommunal violence, but lack the capacity

and the manpower to actually follow through on that.

Additionally, within the ranks of the new Syrian military, there are forces that have been not fighting, which are have been fighting independently for

many years, that he is still working on the process of reining them in and professionalizing the military forces. So, it is understandable why

minority communities and why Syrians across the country would be alarmed of, like, hasty deployments of these forces into areas that they're not

familiar with.

And given the amount of violations that have occurred just in the past few days, but obviously also the wide-scale violence we've seen last March

against Alawite communities. That there would be a lot of concern and fear of what could happen if there is a breakdown in security that would warrant

the government to intervene once more. And I think that needs to be taken into very serious consideration by Damascus.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. It is interesting to hear the United States describe this as a misunderstanding, and it will also be interesting to see going forward

the longer-term consequences of Israel choosing to involve itself the way they have over the past few days here in terms of any destabilization and

any normalization going forward between these two countries.

You've interviewed al-Sharaa a few years ago. I would imagine it's quite stunning for you to watch his evolution over the past few years alone.

Dareen Khalifa, thank you so much for your expertise in helping us break this down. We appreciate it.

KHALIFA: Thank you so much for having me.

ASHER: Thank you.

All right, for the people of Taiwan, the threat that China will invade is real, and it is certainly ever-present.

GOLODRYGA: And so the island's capital is preparing with drills that bring the bustling city to an eerie halt. CNN Senior International Correspondent

Will Ripley reports from Taipei.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

RIPLEY: We just got this presidential alert that says, "Missile attack. Seek immediate shelter.

If war breaks out in Taiwan, this is what it could look like.

(SIRENS)

RIPLEY: There you go.

Air raid sirens across Taipei. People had to abandon their cars. You've got buses just sitting there empty. This busy street in the middle of a

workday, totally empty, except for the police making sure that people are not out on the sidewalks.

This is Taiwan's first-ever urban resilience drill. It's designed to prepare civilians for war. The government wants people to take cover

underground, basements, metro stations, parking lots.

At this Taipei supermarket chain, shoppers take shelter from a simulated airstrike. Military police sweep through the subway system, moving gear and

personnel through the capital underground. When the sirens stop, civil defense drills begin.

How fast can people open shelters, ration food, protect telecoms and power grids?

[12:40:03]

C-4 explosives detonate in the Danchui River, part of simulations to block China's PLA forces from advancing by water into Taipei. Anti-aircraft units

train to intercept incoming missiles before they ever reach the capital.

On Taiwan's outlying islands, troops prepare for amphibious landing, firing artillery, launching missiles, timing every single move. Nighttime combat

drills engender training to defend this island in the dark.

Portions of these drills have been held annually for decades. But this year's lasts 10 days, twice as long as usual. So why now?

Taiwan's military points to daily threats from Beijing. Warplanes crossing into Taiwan's air defense zone. Chinese ships flexing in nearby waters.

Taiwan doesn't know how much time it has, but planners agree if war does happen, the future of this island democracy depends on how everyone

responds.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Will Ripley for that really provocative report.

We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Civil rights groups are suing the Trump administration in a bid to stop arrests of undocumented migrants at immigration hearings. The class

action lawsuit was filed in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. Now it asks a federal judge to block the policy changes that underpin the anti-

immigration effort on the grounds that they violate the Constitution and federal law.

ASHER: Meanwhile, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran says he plans to sue the Trump administration for wrongful detention. He was arrested during an

immigration raid in Southern California last week at a farm where he works as a security guard. He was held for days and says he missed his daughter's

third birthday.

GOLODRYGA: Well, the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration has sparked fear among the immigrant community in the United States.

ASHER: In some cases, those immigrants are making the difficult decision to self-deport rather than face potential detention, deportation, or criminal

charges. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has the story of an undocumented immigrant and his American wife, who are self-deporting to Mexico with their three

children, who are, by the way, U.S. citizens.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SASHA MENDOZA, U.S. CITIZEN: These are the main pictures from our house that we didn't want to just throw away.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sasha Mendoza has the impossible task of packing up her family's life in

Pittsburgh into a handful of suitcases.

[12:45:07]

S. MENDOZA: It's really hard to tell a four-year-old that they can't bring their toys or their stuffed animals. There's just not enough room. We can't

put a stuffed animal and then have no pants.

I've literally never felt anxiety the way that I have in the last few years here.

ALVAREZ: So you are saying bye to the U.S. for good?

JULIO MENDOZA, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: For good, yes. Yes, for good.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Fearful of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, Sasha, her husband, Julio, and their three kids are leaving

behind the life they built together.

S. MENDOZA: What are you the most excited for in Mexico?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The pool.

S. MENDOZA: The pool?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the beach.

S. MENDOZA: And the beach.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Julio is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Sasha and their three children are all U.S. citizens. They decided to make the

move together only moments after Trump took office.

J. MENDOZA: It was an executive order being signed. And that was her call first said, like, what do you think about moving to Mexico? And I said,

honestly, at this point, yes, let's do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to move to Mexico.

S. MENDOZA: We're going to move to Mexico. Not today.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): And with that, the family began to wind down their lives, sifting through keepsakes and moving out of their home.

S. MENDOZA: Say bye to the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bye house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss you.

ALVAREZ: When you were dating, did your status as being undocumented come up at all?

S. MENDOZA: On our first date, we kind of, like, were mentioning it without mentioning it. And at one point, he ordered a drink and he asked for extra

ice. And they said, no, we don't do ice here. And he was like, hmm.

J. MENDOZA: And that was like (INAUDIBLE).

S. MENDOZA: And that was like the only thing we needed to say.

J. MENDOZA: So, by the way --

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Julio crossed the U.S. southern border when he was 11 years old and he's lived in Pittsburgh ever since.

S. MENDOZA: One of his first concerns when we talked about moving is like, how am I going to watch the Steeler games?

ALVAREZ: You're a Pittsburgh native, for all intents and purposes.

S. MENDOZA: Oh, my God, yes.

J. MENDOZA: Yes.

ALVAREZ: What made Trump, a second term, more nerve-wracking for you that - - to come to a decision that you had to leave the country?

J. MENDOZA: There are no limits. There are no limits on being a target. The only main concern is like, he looks brown, he looks different. He don't

speak English. He's the one. It doesn't matter.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: That's where things stand tonight in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia --

ALVAREZ (voice-over): They were confronted with their worst nightmare when Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a notorious megaprison in

El Salvador.

S. MENDOZA: I can see myself in that and I don't want us to wait until we're in the same situation.

ALVAREZ: There are people who will say, you came to the U.S. illegally. Why didn't you do it the right way? What do you say to people?

J. MENDOZA: If you were to be put in my situation at my age, to tell them to do it the right way, the whole process pretty much takes about 15 to 20

years. By that time, I don't think my kids or anyone's kids who are starving or are in a dangerous situation can wait 15-20 years for you to

come here and start working.

S. MENDOZA: What did we say that we could get when we get there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OPS5 (ph).

S. MENDOZA: No, we did not say that.

ALVAREZ: How did you approach the conversation with your kids?

S. MENDOZA: They know the realistic part of it, which is that it will be very difficult for them to adapt to --

J. MENDOZA: Right.

S. MENDOZA: -- especially -- mostly language wise. That's like our biggest thing. They're not anywhere near fluent and they are going to be going into

a school that is Spanish speaking.

Who's that? That's you.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): For Sasha, leaving the U.S. also means saying goodbye to the places she's called home.

ALVAREZ: You grew up in this house. What is it like for you to leave this house and what it represents to you?

S. MENDOZA: It is definitely hard because, yes, there's a lot of good memories. This has always been like the kind of comeback place. As far as

we know, we won't be able to do that. We've kind of all decided that today is most likely the last time that we'll all be like in the same place at

the same time.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Hours of research behind them, the Mendoza family spent their final days in Pittsburgh, saying goodbye to family and friends.

J. MENDOZA: Be in touch. Stay safe, stay safe.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): It's a decision not taken lightly. But for Julio, no other choice.

J. MENDOZA: Rolling the dice will be staying here. That will be rolling the dice. Playing with my life, playing with my kids' life, playing with my

wife's life. That would be a gamble. Yes, I would say it's taking a gamble. I'm taking a certain win on this one for sure.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:59]

ASHER: Former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, are addressing divorce rumors head on.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, the couple appeared on Michelle Obama's podcast Wednesday to tell the world they're doing just fine.

Arlette Saenz takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

M. OBAMA: He's my husband, you all.

B. OBAMA: She took me back.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barack and Michelle Obama, one of the world's most famous power couples, are taking on

the rumors about their marriage with humor.

B. OBAMA: It was touch and go for a while.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so nice to have you both in the same room today.

B. OBAMA: I know.

M. OBAMA: I know, because when we aren't, folks think we're divorced.

SAENZ (voice-over): For months, speculation about their marriage has run rampant, fueled in part by the former president's appearances without his

wife by his side, including President Donald Trump's second inauguration.

M. OBAMA: People couldn't believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

SAENZ (voice-over): Now, for the first time, the Obamas are speaking out together on the former first lady's podcast to shoot down those rumors of

divorce.

B. OBAMA: These are the kinds of things --

M. OBAMA: Yes.

B. OBAMA: -- that I just miss, right? So I don't even know this stuff's going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

B. OBAMA: And then somebody will mention it to me, and I'm all like, what are you talking about?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

M. OBAMA: There hasn't been one moment in our marriage where I thought about quitting my man. And we've had some really hard times. So we have had

a lot of fun times, a lot of adventures. And I have become a better person because of the man I'm married to.

B. OBAMA: OK, don't make me cry now, right at the beginning of the show.

SAENZ (voice-over): The Obamas met in 1989, working at a law firm in Chicago. They married three years later and had two daughters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, daddy.

SAENZ (voice-over): Their marriage thrust into the public spotlight, as his political ambitions carried them to the White House.

B. OBAMA: I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years, the rock of our family,

the love of my life, the nation's next first lady.

SAENZ (voice-over): But between the dancing and the kiss cameras, the couple also has spoken about their struggles.

B. OBAMA: She wasn't the one who chose this life. We went through our rough patches.

M. OBAMA: I don't want people looking at me and Barack like hashtag couples goals --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

M. OBAMA: -- and not know that, no, no, there are some broken things that happen even in the best of marriages.

SAENZ (voice-over): And over the years, the Obamas have shared tips for making their nearly 33 year marriage work.

M. OBAMA: I was one of those wives who thought, I'm taking you to marriage counseling so you can be fixed, Barack Obama --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

M. OBAMA: -- because I was like, I'm perfect. But marriage counseling was a turning point for me, understanding that it wasn't up to my husband to make

me happy.

B. OBAMA: I was in a deep deficit with my wife. So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things.

SAENZ (voice-over): Arlette Saenz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

[12:55:14]

ASHER: I have to know -- I'd love to know what their secret is, to making marriage work for so many decades. I mean, they are such a beautiful power

couple. And I'm so glad the rumors are actually not true.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, I love that he didn't even know about the rumors and that she said in that podcast, listen, just because we're not posting every time

we're at a restaurant, Instagram, she's like, we're in our 60s, guys.

I can't believe they're in their 60s.

ASHER: I know. She's like --

GOLODRYGA: They look amazing.

ASHER: -- I'm perfect. And there's nothing wrong with me, said every wife ever.

GOLODRYGA: Oh, my gosh. Well, I'm glad that they put a kibosh to those horrible rumors. Not true.

All right. Well, that does it for today's One World. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: Yes, cue the music. Time to wrap this up.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

ASHER: That's like the Oscars. Get off the stage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END